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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24390100">Salt Water</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTwentySecondPilot/pseuds/TheTwentySecondPilot'>TheTwentySecondPilot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Twenty One Pilots</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkward Flirting, Day At The Beach, Flirting, Los Angeles, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:48:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,282</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24390100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTwentySecondPilot/pseuds/TheTwentySecondPilot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler’s mind was also buzzing, but with numbness. He blankly stared out, not looking at anything in particular. An occasional wave would startle him, or a bird would cross his peripheral and he’d move his head slightly to watch it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Josh Dun/Tyler Joseph</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Salt Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Tyler was visiting Josh in LA for the weekend and they decided to go to the beach. Though it was a short drive, Tyler spent most of it looking out the window. At one point, Tyler glances over at Josh, who is focused on driving and doesn’t notice him staring. Tyler’s eyes wander from the steering wheel, up Josh’s forearm, lingering at his bicep, and continue up to where his tank top meets his shoulder. Tyler shifts his gaze up to Josh’s face, but before he has time to get lost in every detail of it, Josh’s car comes to a halt.</p><p class="p1">“We’re here!” Josh turns to see Tyler staring, and Tyler shakes his head quickly.</p><p class="p1">“Sweet!” Tyler blurts, caught off guard.</p><p class="p1">“What?” Josh grins, tilting his head slightly.</p><p class="p1">“N-nothing! I just, uh, zoned out.” Tyler stammers, blushing.</p><p class="p1">“O…kay?” Josh asks, raising an eyebrow. Tyler laughs nervously as Josh turns off the car, “You ready?” Tyler nods, “Let’s go!” The two get out and start walking to the beach, donning sunglasses with their hands full (with the bare essentials) of everything you would need for a day at the beach. (Towels, sunscreen, Taco Bell perhaps, y’know, the works) They find a spot to lay out their towels and Tyler looks out to the horizon. A seemingly endless place, the horizon was, and Tyler was transfixed by it.</p><p class="p1">“Hey Ty?” Josh says, no response, “Tyler.”</p><p class="p1">“Huh?” Tyler jolts back to reality, turning to see Josh sitting down patting the space next to him on his towel, silently asking Tyler to join him.</p><p class="p1">“I, uh, I think I’m gonna go see if the water’s cold or not.” Tyler says and walks over to where the sand meets the ocean waves. Josh furrows his brow, concerned, wondering what was going through Tyler’s head. Was it because he’d caught Tyler eyeing him? Because he mentioned it? Because he would’ve done the same thing? He’d seen Tyler doing it before, he just never brought it up, because he didn’t mind it. Josh would actually catch himself eyeing Tyler sometimes, but he wouldn’t do anything about it because Tyler usually didn’t see him doing it. While Josh was lost in thought, Tyler’s mind was also buzzing, but with numbness. He blankly stared out, not looking at anything in particular. An occasional wave would startle him, or a bird would cross his peripheral and he’d move his head slightly to watch it. Tyler realizes that standing out in the sun had made him hot, so he walks back over to where Josh was, who had decided to lie down while waiting for Tyler to return, resting the back of his head on his arm. Tyler takes off his shirt, throwing it down on his towel. Josh lifts up his shades, looking up at Tyler as he lets out a whistle.</p><p class="p1">“Stop!” Tyler shakes his head, smiling down at Josh.</p><p class="p1">“Hey, now you know how I feel during shows!” Josh explains.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, but you’re actually hot.” Tyler says without missing a beat, freezing after realizing he’d said that out loud.</p><p class="p1">“I mean, it is, like, 90-something degrees out.” Josh jokes, hoping to make Tyler laugh so that he feels less awkward. It works.</p><p class="p1">“Don’t make me kick sand at you!” He laughs and fakes a lunge towards Josh.</p><p class="p1">“Fight me!” Josh reaches out, grabbing Tyler’s leg, pulling it closer to him. The rest of Tyler, however, stays planted where he was, almost causing him to drop into a split. Instead, he just falls forward onto his hands and knees with a yelp. Tyler sighs in defeat, knowing he wouldn’t be able to take on Josh, he’d immediately get pinned underneath him and- wow, he needed to get that idea out of his head, fast. Thankfully Josh speaks up, breaking Tyler’s train of thought.</p><p class="p1">“Whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?”</p><p class="p1">“Oh, just plotting ways to get back at you later.” Tyler smirks.</p><p class="p1">“Right,” Josh rolls his eyes and grins, “let me know when you think of something.” Tyler rolls to the side, sitting down to face Josh. “So how was the water?” He asks after a few minutes of silence.</p><p class="p1">“The what? Oh, uh, I didn’t go in.” Tyler says, remembering his excuse from earlier.</p><p class="p1">“That’s what you said you were gonna go do?” Josh laughs, standing up. “Here, hold this!” He says, quickly pulling his tank top up over his head and throwing it at Tyler, who just barely catches it. He looks down at it for a few seconds, and by the time he looks back up, Josh is already walking towards the ocean. Tyler tosses the tank top aside, and stands up quietly, walking over to Josh, who is already knee-deep in the water. Tyler sprints over, jumping up onto Josh’s back, wrapping his legs around Josh’s torso. While Josh was caught off guard, he instantly thought of the best payback. He turns around, falling backward, sending Tyler back-first into a wave that is about to crash. Tyler breaks the surface of the water, breathing heavily. He rubs his eyes and hears Josh laughing from a distance.</p><p class="p1">“Rude!” Tyler shouts, splashing water in Josh’s general direction.</p><p class="p1">“That was your revenge plot?” Josh teases, splashing Tyler back.</p><p class="p1">“I don’t even know why we’re going after each other in the first place!” Tyler laughs, wading around in the water, getting closer to Josh.</p><p class="p1">“Cause you-“ Josh pauses, “cause… cause you’re being difficult.”</p><p class="p1">“What?” Tyler’s face contorts, confused, then worried, “did I do something? cause if I di-“ He is cut off as Josh moves forward, picking him up. Tyler responds automatically, placing his hands on Josh’s shoulders and wrapping his legs around his waist.</p><p class="p1">“You’re just really hard to flirt with, is all.” Josh whispers, biting his lip. Tyler giggles, grinning as his eyes flicker down to look at Josh’s lips. A small nod from Josh is all Tyler needs before moving his hands up Josh’s neck to his jaw and gently pulling his face towards his own. The kiss doesn’t last long though, as they both break away coughing and trying to breathe.</p><p class="p1">“Salt water!” Tyler gasps, “Not a good idea!”</p><p class="p1">“I was… wondering… why… you tasted… salty.” Josh teases through gasps.</p><p class="p1">Tyler unwraps his legs from around Josh and they slowly make their way out of the ocean. Exhausted, they both flop down onto their towels and finish catching their breaths.</p><p class="p1">After laying there for what seemed like forever, listening to each other’s breaths and the sound of the waves crashing, which was background noise at this point, Josh slowly reaches his hand out. He lets it fall onto Tyler’s back, as Tyler was lying down on his stomach.</p><p class="p1">“Ty… ‘mere” He mumbles, not even sure Tyler was still awake.</p><p class="p1">“Mmm?” Tyler opens his eyes slightly and rolls over towards Josh slowly, as to not squish his hand, which Josh slides over Tyler’s chest, pulling him close. Josh’s other arm was underneath his head for support as a not-so-comfortable pillow. Tyler holds on to Josh’s hand with both of his own, curling up a little bit, just enough so that the bottoms of his feet were up against Josh’s shins.</p><p class="p1">“s'whyIgahbeth'lilspoon?” Tyler slurs, barely awake.</p><p class="p1">“You can be the big spoon next time.” Josh says softly, kissing Tyler on the shoulder. “You still taste salty.” He mumbles into Tyler’s back.</p><p class="p1">“Shu-up.” Tyler’s eyelids flutter closed, and he takes in the moment, the warmth of the sun beating down on them, the feeling of Josh pressed up against him, the sound of the waves in the distance. <em>This was pure bliss, some might even call it happiness</em>, Tyler thought as he drifted off to sleep, never wanting the moment to end.</p>
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